


To Punish a President

by OctolingO



Category: Dream SMP - Fandom, Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Nightmares, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Sickfic, Villain Clay | Dream (Video Blogging RPF)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-18
Updated: 2021-01-21
Packaged: 2021-03-17 01:35:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28841001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OctolingO/pseuds/OctolingO
Summary: Dream still needs Mellohi, and he has the perfect plan to get it.But first, he’ll need some help. And L’Manburg won’t give up easily.(AU where Tubbo didn’t give Dream Mellohi so L’Manburg is still intact)
Relationships: ALL PLATONIC!!!, Alexis | Quackity & Karl Jacobs & Sapnap, Skeppy & BadBoyHalo, Technoblade & Dream, tommy & tubbo
Comments: 2
Kudos: 63





	1. Calling in a Favor

Dream grinned as he stepped through the Nether Portal, emerging into the strange path system over a boiling lake of lava. He had snuck through L’Manburg completely undetected, without invisibility even, and it had almost been easier than he’d thought it would be. Now he saw how Tommy and Technoblade had managed to do so with as much ease as they had. 

With Tommy a legitimate citizen of L’Manburg again, it seemed only Technoblade would be sneaking in and out, if he ever did. He had no real reason to return to L’Manburg now. Dream only had one reason to be in L’Manburg, in comparison to Techno’s zero, and it was to get the Mellohi disc. He had Cat, and he had been in possession of it for a while, but he hadn’t been able to convince Tubbo to give him the purple-and-white-striped dics, unfortunately. It turns out the president could have a backbone when he chose to. 

A ghast’s shriek pulled Dream from his thoughts, and he turned just in time to swing his sword—Nightmare, a name that many people had made fun of before he stabbed them with it—to reflect the projectile. The ghast made one defeated hiss before turning into a puff of smoke, and Dream nodded, satisfied. The Piglins grunted angrily at him as he passed, but they were not willing to attack him not with the golden helmet he was wearing. 

The purple light of a Nether Portal was a welcome sight to Dream, after about a half hour of traveling and running from ghast’s fireballs. Maybe he could see if Techno could talk them down from attacking him; a Piglin hybrid might be able to communicate with ghasts. That was a long shot, though. He might just have to deal with the constant problem of a fireball coming out of nowhere and almost killing him. 

Dream stepped through the Portal and walked out into the snowy landscape that surrounded Techno’s house for miles. He knew vaguely what direction Technoblade’s house was, and he could hear laughter that made it all the more easy to find his way to the quaint cottage, with its smoke coming from the chimney. 

Ranboo, Philza, and Ghostbur were all standing in the snow and talking, Ghostbur and Ranboo in knee-high leather boots to keep their feet from getting wet. Ghostbur had his sheep, Friend, on a brightly colored leash, and he would routinely turn and pet the sheep’s head, though whether it was to reassure himself or the animal was unknown to Dream. Phil’s charcoal wings were shaking with how hard he was laughing, so whatever Ranboo had just said must’ve been hilarious. 

Techno was off to one side, sitting on a tree stump and whittling away at a Warped Stem that he must’ve gotten from a Nether expedition. He was carving the bluish wood with a small shard of Netherite, casually showing how rich he was in comparison to much of the server. Even Dream himself was intimidated by Technoblade’s power from time to time, though not often. 

“Techno!” Dream said. The Piglin hybrid glanced up, eyes widening for a fraction of a second. Phil, Ghostbur, and Ranboo turned as well: Ranboo’s face went pale, turning the black of his face to more of a gray, whilst Phil’s face darkened and Ghostbur simply looked confused. Phil flared out his wings to act as a sort of shield between Dream and Ranboo. Ghostbur peeked around one side with Friend before disappearing behind the massive wings. Dream shrugged. 

“Dream.” Techno said with a nod that was respectful but not mocking. “What can I do for you?”   
“I think it’s about time I called in that favor.” Dream said, smiling behind his mask. Techno inhaled sharply, though quietly enough that Dream had trouble hearing him, and nodded again, firmly this time. 

“Alright.”

Tubbo woke with a start, clutching at his suit that he’d forgotten to take off before going to bed. He wasn’t sure what had woken him up, but he could guess. Tommy was asleep on the floor next to him, as they hadn’t built him a house just for him yet. After all, he’d only just rejoined L’Manburg a few days ago. 

Tubbo sighed, rubbing his face. He was the president! Getting scared of a little nightmare shouldn’t be much of a problem! And yet, nightmares seemed to be more and more common, almost to the point where Tubbo was afraid of sleeping. He could see how the atmosphere had driven Wilbur and Schlatt over the edge, as much as he didn’t want to see it. 

The moon was just starting to go down, casting silvery light through the windows of Tubbo’s house. It made the two lodestone compasses,  _ Your Tommy  _ and  _ Your Tubbo _ , glint. Tubbo smiled ruefully at the compasses. He had once thought  _ Your Tommy _ was gone, destroyed in a freak turn of events ending with a creeper’s explosion, but a further search through the wreckage had revealed that the compass had still been intact, merely hidden under rubble. There was a fracture running through it now, and Tubbo thought it was fitting. 

“Tubbo?” Tommy spoke into the silence, sitting up and making his blankets rustle. “Why are you up?”

“No reason, Tommy. Just not tired, that’s all.” As soon as Tubbo said it, he knew that Tommy wouldn’t buy the story. The other citizens of L’Manburg might be content to let their president survive on an hour of sleep or less, but Tommy would not be. 

“Tubbo, you’ve barely slept the past three days.” Tommy accused, confirming Tubbo’s suspicions. 

“I know, I just… can’t sleep.” Tubbo carded his fingers through his hair and winced when they caught in tangles; he hadn’t gotten his hands on a hairbrush in weeks. Eret probably had one that he could borrow. “Tommy, do you remember, uh, what we used to do? During the first war?” Tubbo was referring to the war for L’Manburg’s independence, where he and Tommy had slept holding hands more nights than not. They’d done so even after the war, but Schlatt’s rise to power had split them apart. 

“The hand holding thing?” Tommy asked. 

“Uh, yeah.” Tubbo said, looking at the ground and blushing. “Can we… try that again?”   
“Of course we can!” Tommy laughed and held out a hand. Tubbo took a moment to shove some blankets and a pillow onto the ground before laying down and grabbing Tommy’s hand. It felt strange, at first, but also welcomingly familiar, and Tubbo fell asleep in moments, escaping nightmares of flashing fireworks and concrete prisons for the first time in what felt like months. 


	2. Recruits

After visiting Techno and confirming that the Piglin hybrid would be helping with his plans, Dream’s next place to visit were the houses of the three people he intended to recruit: George, Sapnap, and Bad. Dream was not on good terms with the former two, after dethroning George and inadvertently hurting Sapnap. He hadn’t actually spoken with Bad for a few weeks, but he knew something had happened to Skeppy, and he might be able to manipulate Bad through that. 

George’s house was just up ahead, its red mushroom walls sticking out against the dirt of the surrounding area. It had mostly been fixed up since Tommy (and Ranboo, Dream had learned) had set fire to it; the outside looked properly repaired at least. Dream couldn’t vouch for the inside.

Dream was shocked to realize that he felt almost nervous stepping up to the front door. He had no reason to be nervous; he was almost completely sure that George would accept his proposal. The colorblind man seemed desperate to get any sort of significance in L’Manburg’s existence, or destruction. Dream shook himself from his thoughts—he seemed to get lost in them a lot these days—and knocked on the door. 

“Just a minute!” George’s voice said from inside, and he was true to his word: he was standing in the doorway, pulling a shirt over his head, in moments. Dream turned the color of a tomato under his mask. He was thankful George couldn’t see. “Dream.” George said warily. “I was just replacing floorboards, why are you here?”   
“I think I need your help.” Dream heard George’s breath catch in his throat, and he smiled. He didn’t even need to catch George in his web, George had gone into it on his own. 

“With what?” George asked. Dream took a wrapped up piece of paper from his bag, spreading it out on the ground in front of him. It was a map of L’Manburg, with notes written and drawings scribbled on it that depicted Dream’s plans. Dream began to explain, making sure George was following along. George nodded thoughtfully, though he was grinning. “Alright, I’ll help you. When are we doing this?”

“The 16th.” Dream said, hoping George picked up on the symbolism. “Three days from now.” George laughed. 

Sapnap was the next person Dream had to visit, though he was significantly harder to find. He didn’t have a specific house, though Dream knew he lived in the area of El Rapids, somewhere around L’Manburg. They really should keep a record of everyone’s residences. It would make Dream’s job easier, that was for sure. 

It seemed Dream’s job would still be relatively easy, today. Sapnap was at the docks near L’Manburg, sitting on the edge and dangling his feet in the water. He didn’t hear Dream approaching, and almost fell into the water when Dream clapped to get his attention. 

“What do you want?” He said venomously, hand going to his sword. He wasn’t wearing any armor, but then again, neither was Dream. He hadn’t wanted to try recruiting while looking as if he was going to try and kill anyone. 

“Sapnap, I need you to help me with something.”   
“Why should I? You said you didn’t care about me.” Sapnap retorted. Dream sighed. He was beginning to regret that particular choice of words a bit. But, Dream had assumed Sapnap would say no to his offer. He had a plan to ensure Sapnap’s loyalty, though it was an underhanded one. 

“Because I will kill Karl and Quackity if you don’t.” He said bluntly, and with a hint of mirth. Sapnap went pale as a sheet for a split second. 

“You wouldn’t.” He said. It sounded like he was trying to convince himself, rather than accuse Dream. Dream tilted his head back, laughing. 

“Oh, I would. And you know it.” He was still laughing, wheezing, when Sapnap grit his teeth and spoke. 

“What do you need.” 

The quartz mansion, which had once made Bad feel overjoyed (after all, he got to live with his best friend), now just made the demon boy feel upset. It looked less like a mansion and more like a hospital in his eyes, which made sense considering the events of the last week. 

Skeppy had claimed to have had a “fuzzy skull”, as he had phrased it, and he had been stumbling. He’d even fainted one time, though Bad hadn’t known about that until later. Three days ago, while Skeppy had been lying in bed in the middle of the night, he’d awoken screaming. Bad had naturally assumed it had been a nightmare, even though they were relatively uncommon for Skeppy, but he had checked on his friend anyways. 

And Skeppy had had red vines curling around the side of his face, starting just behind his ear and ending when they snaked over his nose. Then Bad had screamed too. 

Sam and Ant had been called over mere minutes later, and Ant had gotten right to work collecting healing and regeneration potions for Skeppy, while Sam tried to calm Bad down. It had not worked very well, to the Creeper hybrid’s chagrin. Skeppy’s condition had only worsened in the last two days. His eyes, when they were open, were blurry and unfocused. The veins under his skin, especially around his neck, were turning red, and his fingertips and the tip of his nose glowed as if Shroomlights were under them. Bad would’ve found the glowing charming if Skeppy hadn’t been sick and hurt. 

The source of the vines, after some investigating, had been revealed to be a blooming red flower behind Skeppy’s ear, where the vines had started to grow from. Bad didn’t know how Skeppy had managed to hide the flower, until he thought and realized that Skeppy had been wearing his hoodie with the hood up the days leading up to the vine’s revealing. 

And to make matters worse, the vines were contagious. Skeppy had suffered from a terrible coughing fit, that Puffy—who had been visiting and hoping she could help to comfort Bad—had helped him through. Within an hour, she had a tiny red flower just behind her ear, though it was hard to see since her hair mostly covered it. They hadn’t found a way to kill the flower, or the vines, only slow them down with holy water from the Church of Prime. Ant had treated both Skeppy and Puffy with the water, and it seemed like the vines growth had slowed, for now. Puffy was still conscious and helping Sam and Ant with everyday tasks, with a rainbow-striped bandana wrapped around her mouth and nose, so she couldn’t accidentally infect anyone else. 

Bad was now sitting in a very soft chair (brought by Sam, from his ridiculously advanced base) next to Skeppy’s bed, biting his lip so he wouldn’t cry. He had been able to avoid completely breaking down thus far, but it was becoming increasingly difficult, especially with how in pain Skeppy looked. 

“Bad.” Bad jolted, spinning around to see Dream standing in the doorway. 

“Hey Dream!” Bad said in his most cheerful voice. “What’s up?” 

“Bad, you don’t have to act like everything is fine.” Dream said. Bad looked down at the floor, his thin tail whipping from side to side. The tail had an arrowhead-shaped tip, and Bad had found out that it could work for attacking if the need arose. Hopefully it wouldn’t. 

“Okay.” Bad said quietly. “Why are you here?”

“Because I can help you with Skeppy.” This made Bad look up quickly. “But I need you to help me with something first.” That was all Dream needed to say. Bad was on board with his admittedly questionable plan in a heartbeat, if only to save his best friend. 


End file.
